Hereinbelow, a conventional process for producing a label, including a patch (called also a “mark”) and the structure of the label itself produced by the process will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 to 6.
First, a label cloth 1 is prepared from a cloth such as textile fabrics, knitted fabrics, non-woven fabrics and the like, to which fabrics a desired color, a desired pattern, a desired design and/or the like are printed by silk-screen printing process or the like.
Next, a rear surface of the label cloth 1 is coated with a pasty hot-melt type thermoplastic synthetic resin to a predetermined thickness, and then dried to form a so-called transfer adhesive layer 2. Alternatively, the transfer-printing adhesive layer 2 may be formed by a process such as laminating a hot-melt thermoplastic synthetic resin film having a predetermined thickness to a rear surface of the label cloth 1. The transfer adhesive layer 2 contains a hot-melt thermoplastic synthetic resin as one of its components. The adhesive layer 2 thus formed is then backed with a release sheet 3 to prepare a cloth material for label making, that is, a cloth material for marking 4 as shown in FIG. 3.
In preparing a label from the cloth material for marking 4, the cloth material for marking 4 is cut into a desired shape to obtain label 5 having desired colors, patterns and/or designs as shown in FIG. 4.
Accordingly, the conventional label has a structure as shown in FIG. 4, in which transfer adhesive layer 2 is formed on label cloth 1, lined with release sheet 3.
Next, a procedure by which label 5 is bonded to clothes such as a uniform or like items will be described.
First, the release sheet 3, which has been placed on the transfer adhesive layer 2 on the rear surface of the label 5, is removed.
The label 5 is overlaid on cloth surface such as a uniform (not shown) with the transfer adhesive layer 2 being touched with the cloth surface. Then, the label 5 and the cloth thus coupled one another are subjected to a hot pressing process in which they are compressed together under a pressure of approximately 200 g/cm2 for about 30 seconds at a temperature of approximately 150° C. using a hot press or the like, so that the transfer adhesive layer 2 of the label 5 is melted between the cloth of the uniform or the like and the cloth of the label 5, whereby the cloth of the label 5, that is, the cloth material for marking 4 and the corresponding cloth of the uniform or the like are bonded to each other through the application of heat without damaging the cloths.
Incidentally, the development of transfer paper has been advanced in that various colors, patterns, designs and the like are printed on a sheet of transfer paper with a so-called sublimation dye. Along with the conventional silk screen process printing techniques, techniques for producing a cloth material for a label or a mark (hereinafter referred to as “a cloth material for marking”) have come to be widely used in the art of making a cloth material where transfer paper such as having a structure as shown in FIG. 5 is used.
Hereinbelow, the techniques for producing a cloth material for marking having a structure shown in FIG. 5 using the transfer paper currently employed in the art of label making will be described.
As label cloth 6 (a component of the cloth material for marking 11), a cloth having affinity for a sublimation dye so that the dye is sublimated and transferred onto the cloth may be selected. Typical examples of such a cloth include a white cloth (a cloth having a white base) of textile fabrics, knitted fabrics, non-woven fabrics and the like made of, for example, polyester fibers. A composite cloth 8 is prepared to produce a cloth material for marking 11 shown in FIG. 5, where composite cloth 8 is prepared by: applying a temporary adhesive 7′ on a non-woven fabric 7; overlaying label cloth 6 on the non-woven fabric 7 on the side where the temporary adhesive 7′ is applied; subjecting the cloth to heating/pressing operations by a heating/pressing machine, whereby the composite cloth 8 backed with the non-woven fabric 7 is prepared.
Then, the printed surface of the transfer paper is pressed against a surface of the white label cloth 6 of the composite cloth 8 and heating/pressing operation is performed by the heating/pressing machines and the like. The colors, patterns, designs and the like that have been printed on the transfer paper with the sublimation dye are transfer-printed onto the surface of the white label cloth 6 by sublimating the sublimation dye.
The above-mentioned transfer printing (sublimation transfer) is carried out on the following conditions: heating temperature of approximately 180 to approximately 210° C.; pressure of approximately 1 to approximately 2,000 g/cm2; and a period of the heating/pressing processes of approximately 30 to approximately 90 seconds.
On a surface of the non-woven fabric 7 of the composite cloth 8, a transfer adhesive layer is formed with a hot-melt type thermoplastic synthetic resin according to a conventional method. The transfer adhesive layer has the function of transferring/applying the mark to an object such as a user's uniform and like items. Then, the release sheet 10 is applied to a surface of the transfer adhesive layer 9 to obtain the cloth material for marking 11 having the structure shown in FIG. 5.
Similar to the transfer adhesive layer 2 for a conventional type of a cloth material for marking shown in FIG. 3, the transfer adhesive layer 9 is usually set to have a melting point of approximately 150° C., and is supposed to be subjected to heating and pressing processes for about 30 seconds under approximately 200 g/cm2 of pressure.
In order to obtain a label from the cloth material for marking 11 that has been produced by the above-described means, the cloth material for marking 11 is cut into a desired shape to obtain the label 12 as shown in FIG. 6.
Therefore, it should be noted that it is impossible to produce a cloth material for marking 11 in the following manner: preparing a label cloth 6 selected from white cloths such as textile white fabrics, knitted white fabrics, non-woven white fabrics and like made of polyester fibers; preparing composite cloth 8 by backing the label cloth 6 with a non-woven fabric 7 with a temporary adhesive 7; completing the preparation of the cloth material for marking by forming a transfer adhesive layer 9 on a rear surface of the composite cloth 8; and, after that, transferring colors, patterns, designs and the like printed on the transfer paper with the sublimation dye onto the cloth of label cloth 6 of the composite cloth 8 that is a component of the cloth material for marking so as to produce a cloth material for marking 11 with colors, etc. transferred thereon.
The following reasons can be raised for why it is impossible to produce the cloth material for marking 11 in the above procedure. First, the transferring temperature at which colors, patterns and designs are transferred onto label cloth 6 of a cloth material for marking by sublimating the sublimation dye printed on the transfer paper is different from the melting point (temperature) of the transfer adhesive layer 9 formed on the cloth material for marking Second, due to differences in pressure and time period of the transfer-printing process, the transfer adhesive layer 9 is melted first so that the molten resin of the transfer adhesive layer 9 seeps and soaks through the non-woven fabric 7 of composite cloth 8, whereby the molten resin appears and covers the front surface of the label cloth 6. This results in a failure in the transfer-printing process since the molten resin forms a thin film on the surface of the label cloth 6.
Furthermore, other disadvantages may arise in a case in which the label (including a patch) is bonded to the user's uniform and like items under conditions in which: a heating and pressing machine of the conventional type is used in applying the label to the uniform and like items; the label cloth 6 is prepared from white textile fabrics, knitted fabrics, non-woven fabrics and like white fabrics formed from polyester fibers currently widely used in the art of the label; this label cloth 6 is backed with the non-woven fabric 7 to prepare the composite cloth 8, wherein a temporary adhesive 7′ has been applied to the non-woven fabric 7; the label cloth 6 of the composite cloth 8 is transfer-printed by using the transfer paper so that the label cloth 6 bears the colors, patterns and the designs thus transfer-printed; the transfer adhesive layer 9 is formed in the non-woven fabric 7 of the composite cloth 8, so that the label 12 shown in FIG. 6 is produced, wherein the cloth material for marking 11 is subjected to templating process to assume the shape of the label 12. The specific disadvantages are set forth below.
Although the non-woven fabric 7 of the composite cloth 8 forming a component of the label is firmly bonded to the user's uniform and like items, the label 12 bonded to the uniform and the like is poor in durability in washing since the non-woven fabric 7 and the label cloth 6 is temporarily bonded to each other through the temporary adhesive 7′. This results in a peeling-off accident of the label 12 during washing the clothes. The label is also poor in abrasion resistance.
When the transfer adhesive layer 9 is formed after removing the non-woven fabric 7 after completion of the transfer printing process of the colors, patterns and designs of the transfer paper transferred onto the label cloth 6 of the composite cloth 8, the label cloth 6 having been transfer-printed to bear the colors, patterns and the designs using the transfer paper described above has the disadvantage that the label cloth 6 is deformed during the removing (peeling-off) operation.
Further, another disadvantage appears when the temporary adhesive 7′ is increased in thickness in order to solve the above-mentioned disadvantages and in order to more firmly bond the non-woven fabric 7 to the label 6 so that the composite cloth 8 is produced. A cloth material for marking 11 is prepared by forming a transfer adhesive layer 9 on a non-woven fabric 7 of the composite cloth 8. A label 12 is cut out from the cloth material for marking 11 and the label 12 thus obtained is usually adhered to an uniform and the like by a hot press process in accordance with a conventional method. The temporary adhesive 7′ thus increased in thickness is melted so that the molten resin of the temporary adhesive 7′ seeps and soaks through the non-woven fabric 7 to appear in the backside of the non-woven fabric 7, whereby such molten resin forms a film over the surface of the label cloth 6. As a result, it is impossible to produce a good product or label cloth material for marking when the cloth material for marking formed from the composite cloth 8 having a temporary adhesive 7′ with increased thickness; and, also impossible to produce a good label when the cloth material for marking formed from the composite cloth 8 described above.
As a label cloth which is improved in the above problems, a cloth material for marking is disclosed which is characterized by a structure obtained by using a white cloth including fibers containing a component having affinity for a sublimation dye as the label cloth constituting the cloth material for marking, forming an intermediate layer on the rear surface of the label cloth which is the above cloth, the intermediate layer including a synthetic resin having affinity for the component of the cloth which is a component of the label cloth which is the above cloth and has a softening temperature set to a higher temperature than a sublimation temperature of the sublimation dye, forming a transfer adhesive layer including a hot-melt thermoplastic synthetic resin on the intermediate layer and applying a release sheet to the surface of the transfer adhesive layer (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 2006-322129).